Sinosaurosphargis

Sinosaurosphargis is an extinct genus of basal marine saurosphargid reptile known from the Middle Triassic (Anisian age) Guanling Formation of Yunnan and Guizhou Provinces, southwestern China. It contains a single species, Sinosaurosphargis yunguiensis.

Saurosphargis is known from several individuals, all of which were collected from Member II of the Guanling Formation, dating to the Pelsonian substage of the latest Anisian stage of the early Middle Triassic, about 243 million years ago. The holotype IVPP V 17040 and paratype IVPP V 16076 are housed at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing, and represent a nearly complete articulated skeleton and skull, and a partial disarticulated postcranial skeleton including dorsal vertebra, ribs, with osteoderms and gastral rib fragments, respectively. ZMNH M 8797, an incomplete postcranial skeleton showing a very well preserved right forelimb housed at the Zhejiang Museum of Nature History of Hangzhou, was also referred to Saurosphargis in its original description. The holotype and ZMNH M 8797 were collected at Yangmazhai of Luoping County, Yunnan Province, while the paratype came from Yangjian of Pan County, Guizhou Province. Additional uncatalogued LPV specimen was also referred to S. yunguiensis. These specimens all came from the Lagerstätte discovered during a 2007 geological mapping project with a diverse record of marine life called Luoping Biota, that yielded, apart from Sinosaurosphargis, various invertebrates, fish, basal ichthyosaurs, Atopodentatus, the basal saurosphargid Largocephalosaurus, and several species of eosauropterygian, including both pachypleurosaurs and nothosaurids.